"Hands-on intervention techniques applied to the physical
forms of museum, archive, and library materials and objects to
achieve chemical and physical stabilization, in order to extend
their useful life and ensure their continued availability."

"Even with the best preventive care, museum conservators
need to perform treatments on objects to stop and, as far as possible,
remedy ongoing deterioration and damage. These may result from
the inevitable processes associated with the aging of the materials,
from 'inherent vice' where the use of certain materials and techniques
in the manufacture of the object creates problems for its preservation,
or from human intervention (earlier restorations, handling errors,
etc.)."